Confession: I Had An Online Dating Profile For 24 Hours

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Though I wasn’t exactly “desperate” so to speak, I decided to jump the gun and take a chance. A chance on what you may ask? Online dating. Yes. I just said that.

It was a typical summer day and as I took the elevator to the 14th floor to the office of my summer internship, I saw one of my co-interns, Ashley* sitting in the floor. Suddenly, the the other intern, Casey* walked in. After attempting to open the door in our office and contacting our bosses, we somehow were locked out for the morning. We relocated down the street to a local Pret-A-Manager and obviously did what we were suppose to, gossip, duh.

After chatting for a while the topic of Casey’s love life came up—she had four dates planned for this week. Ashley, who had this off-and-on again boy that lived in some exotic location with a nice body, also had dates this week. How you may ask? OkCupid. These young, beautiful women had filled out a free online dating profile and were asked out on dates by attractive men all over the New York City area.

“You should totally make one,” they suggested.

After thinking about it for a couple of minutes—my good friend Alexis* had made an account as well and as going on cool dates— therefore, I decided to do it.

So I did.

The whole day at my internship my email was blowing up because all these men were contacting me. It was flattering at first—so many people were interested in things that are so important to me—education, study abroad, and running. So many guys were complimenting me and telling me how attractive I am, it was great! I, of course, wasn’t messaging anyone and was allowing the messages to come to me. As they kept flowing and I kept looking at profile pictures I was literally becoming addicted. This was a stalker’s paradise.

Later that night as I lay in my bed, a very attractive 26-year-old was messaging me and wanted to meet up. I was a little hesitant but decided that maybe this weekend I could. Then crazy thoughts came to my mind, “he could kill me, he could rape me, he could be a total creep” the list goes on. But really, if he was any of these things, no one would know as I kept this profile a secret expect for my intern friends and two friends from school.

I decided to not respond to my potential lover and sleep on it. The next day I woke up with 36 messages. I kid you not, I did not have a single date all summer but suddenly all these guys are interested? What gives? As I headed to the train station to my internship I received a text from the guy who asked me on a date. How did he get my number? This question still remains a mystery!

He texted something like, “wish we could both just skip work and go to the beach for the day!”

So aggressive! I was already creeped out by the fact that he found my number but then he said this. It was just weird. Maybe if you were my boyfriend or we had gone on a couple of dates it would be considered cute but this was just…odd.

I ignored him and deactivated my OkCupid account because enough was enough. Not only was it insanely overwhelming, it was too much too soon. At the time I was 21 years old and was not ready to date someone who had an actual job and was over the age of 23. I was not even ready to go on an actual blind date. I got pretty freaked out by this guy and decided I wasn’t ready for real world dating.

Later that day I continued to get texts from him saying he saw that my account was deactivated and that he was assuming I was I not interested—like DUH. He eventually stopped texting me but a major lesson was learned—sometimes in life you may think you’re ready for something when you’re not. At the age of 22, I am far too young to be going on dating websites. Heck, I’m still in college. I have a lot to learn and other things to focus on (like finding a job!) Don’t give up on yourself—I believe that faith does work and we will all end up whom we’re supposed to be with. Don’t push it, just wait (because if you don’t you’ll get stressed with emails from creepy dudes who want to buy you drinks! )

“Single Girl” is tired of hooking up with random dudes at frat parties, dealing with men leading her on, and always having to make the first move. Dealing with the unfortunate scene of college dating, “Single Girl” tackles the topics of love, lust, and relationships.

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I believe love is the answer to everything. While heartbreak is inevitable in this uphill battle, I believe that every tear shed, that every single horrible feeling felt, and that each spectacular moment that's left me wonderstruck has happened for a reason. I'm 24 and a hopeless romantic that explores love through her writing.

Disclaimer: Thoughts and opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer. Also note that everything is written in lag time between the actual event and my feelings towards it.